Ninian Brodie of Brodie

12:01AM GMT 07 Mar 2003

Ninian Brodie of Brodie, who died on Monday aged 90, was the laird whose sale of his 16th-century castle to the National Trust for Scotland led to a festering family dispute which ended up in the Court of Session at Edinburgh.

The 25th Brodie of Brodie (family motto "Unite") decided in 1978 to sell the imposing, rose-coloured Brodie Castle and its 175-acre Morayshire estate. The land had been granted to the family by King Malcolm IV in the 12th century, but the maintenance costs had become so ruinous that the laird was faced with the prospect of selling the castle's contents. In order to keep the property intact, he passed it over to the National Trust (via the Secretary of State for Scotland) for £130,000, retaining a small flat for himself as part of the deal.

However, his grandchildren started to object after their Australian mother was divorced from Brodie of Brodie's son Alastair in 1986. Alexander, Phaedra and Edward-Benedict Brodie, who live in France, claimed that the castle and other assets had been placed in trust for them in 1968, before their parents' marriage. They believed the 50-room castle was not only theirs, but had been valued at £152,000 in 1974.

The eventual sale price was, accordingly, "less than valuation and therefore in breach of trust". Brodie of Brodie and the National Trust maintained that the castle's deteriorating condition (it was damp, riddled with woodworm and needed re-wiring) meant that the price achieved had been fair.

A complex legal comedy was the result. As the matter headed for the Court of Session, Alexander's father observed: "This is a family affair which has gone right over the top." It continued until last year, when Alexander commented, "The castle was the family home for centuries and, as far as we are concerned, the sale is null and void. It was in trust. We want the place back. Emotionally, it will be uplifting in the end to have it back in the family. It could have been a cottage - it just happens to be a castle."

Brodie of Brodie's response was, "I have not done anybody out of anything. It's up to the grandchildren if they want to go to court. I don't care what they do. I have a complete answer to it all, I think." In June last year Lady Smith of the Court of Session agreed. She ruled that no case had been made for setting aside the sale of the castle. In dismissing the grandchildren's claim for £170,000 in compensation, she expressed sympathy with "the acuteness of their feelings regarding the matter of the castle".

By then the laird was in hospital after a fall. His son Alastair commented, "I don't think Brodie of Brodie has been at all upset. It is par for the course. Not to worry."

Montague Ninian Alexander Brodie was born at Brodie Castle on June 12 1912, the third and youngest son of Major Ian Brodie, the 24th Brodie of Brodie and a distinguished daffodil breeder.

Young Ninian's eldest brother David had died from complications following diphtheria in 1911, and Ninian grew up in the company of his remaining brother Michael. After being educated at Eton, he went to Australia with the Empire Tour Scheme, and worked on a sheep station.

Once back in London he embarked on an intensive business course; but then he and his brother decided to enrol at the Webber Douglas stage school for two years. Ninian Brodie's first acting job was with the Oxford Repertory Company, after which he took small parts in the West End followed by more repertory work.

He was then taken on by the Perth Repertory Company, with whom he stayed for some time. It was while there that he heard, in 1937, that Michael had been killed in a road accident, and that he was to be Clan Chief. On the outbreak of war Brodie joined the Royal Artillery. After a period on anti-aircraft duties in London, he was posted to North Africa to instruct troops on the use of artillery in battle. In 1943 his father died, and Ninian became the 25th Brodie of Brodie. His twins Alastair and Juliet were born the same year, but he first saw them only 15 months later on his return from the desert.

After the war Brodie of Brodie continued his theatrical career for a while, at Worthing and then Birmingham, but it was not long before he decided to devote his time to helping his mother run the Brodie estate. He inherited it fully on her death in 1956, and spent the rest of his life there.

His thespian bent was never entirely stifled. Open-air productions were mounted at the estate, and Brodie of Brodie kept up a close connection with the Nairn Performing Arts Guild. Then, in 1995, a search was begun for some of the 300 or so lost varieties of daffodil that his father had bred at Brodie Castle between 1899 and 1942; he participated enthusiastically.

Some of the 24th Brodie's blooms were so admired in the 1920s that he sold bulbs for £25 each; and there were around 125 varieties still growing at the castle when the search got under way.

Brodie of Brodie was a well-known, popular local figure and a Justice of the Peace. He played the major role in the life of Brodie Castle after it was opened to the public in 1980, acting as guide to thousands of visitors with unsurpassed knowledge and a touch of theatrical flair. He liked to include risque limericks in his patter.

Ninian Brodie married Helena Budgeon, a descendant of the actress Sarah Siddons, in 1939; the actor Stewart Granger was best man.

The couple met while they were both working at Perth Repertory; she died in 1973. Their son Alastair, a businessman in the South of England who becomes the 26th Brodie of Brodie, described his children's action as "unfortunate".